a new twist on an old favorite

last week in the midst of our preparations for connor's birthday celebration, I read this post, fell in love with this wreath, and had to make one! go ahead, follow the tutorial and make one for your family!

my only tip to you is to not worry about keeping the balloons too close together. I began by bunching balloons tightly, careful to make sure you wouldn't see any of the base wreath. I soon realized that I was going to need two-three times as many balloons as the instructions called for, and my balloon wreath was going to look more like a balloon ball (no hole in the middle). :-) I finished the project by hanging the wreath from a balloon that I made into a hanger.

I'll be pulling out the birthday balloon wreath as part of a new family tradition.

the most wonderful time of the year

I tried. I really did. but I just couldn't make it to this space before the big day of celebration. we managed the entire month so nicely with our december daily calendar that all of our favorite family activities were checked off the list, as well as a few we didn't even plan for.

what a wonderful blessing december has been: But the angel said to them,

"Do not be afraid. I bring good news of great joy that will be for all people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;

he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

my new bracelet from the vintage pearl, says it all from me to you...you are loved. thank you for all your visits, kind comments, and inspiring blogs! I treasure each one of you! blessings to you and yours as you ring in the New Year!

it's a good thing

several years ago I read this article in Family Fun magazine and made the holiday planner the very next day. since then this planner has been my guide and saving grace for making it through the holidays...organized. it is one of the best holiday crafts I've made for myself. nothing fancy about the cover {special because Mark designed it for me though} or the binder. When I started the binder was just a 1/2" but now I've graduated a 2" size, for though years pass, my holiday planning pages remain...for the memories. the tabs are labeled:

* December countdown
* holiday gift list
* holiday card list
* recipes, menus, & parties
* crafts & decorations
* holiday memories
***note-all of the planning sheets can be found here.***

in lining up with our family mission this Christmas, mark and I made a list of all our favorite family activities that lead up to Christmas day. this year we were very deliberate in finding a spot for each one on the December Daily calendar. in past years we've not taken our planning to that last step and some of our favorites didn't happen or had to "wait until next year," leaving us disappointed and experiencing regret. we wanted this year to be different. some of this year's planned favorites include:
December 6th- a long winter's drive to look at Christmas lights
December 11th- an entire day of baking
December 14th- watch a holiday movie together
December 15th- delivery of our homemade food gifts
December 17th- phone caroling to long distance family members
December 18th- a 'shop for each other' night for the boys

I hope you'll find a small way each and every day of December to celebrate this season of peace, love, and giving. whether it's listening to your favorite holiday cd in the car, treating yourself to a self indulgence, or surprising a family member with a phone call, find a way to celebrate. wishing you joy this December!

advent books

december. already? really? I can't believe how fast the moments of 2009 are ticking away.

this year in addition to focusing on relational gifts, mark and I are focusing on a relational family advent season. this Christmas season (in addition to our advent ornament calendar) we're adding a few deliberate and planned activities to keep our family focused on the reason for the season.

we love books. I mean really LOVE books.

after the holidays last year, I read this post and immediately added this idea to my Holiday Binder for 2009. I even added the event to my Franklin so I wouldn't forget it! {You can read melissa's 2009 post on this topic here.}

today was my day to prepare our advent books. this is how it went:

I chose my books and gathered my supplies.

I cut the numbers using the cricut machine

and added adhesive with the zyron machine.

I then punched red circles and added the numbers to them.

I put the book basket in connor's room as a surprise. the look on his face was worth the few hours I spent bringing this idea to life. it's not too late. gather your books and start reading!

thankful for our blessings

thanksgiving was {a road trip to atlanta}

{full of family}

{a rock band of two}

{nerf dart tag}

{playing board games together}
{coffee conversations}

{plenty of food to enjoy}

{creating together}

thanksgiving was oh so memorable

Thank You Michelle, Tony, Mom and Dad for making our holiday so special!

love expanded our family

today was an AWESOME day! my life experiences came full circle with the yearnings of my heart.

some of you know I've had a burden on my heart for African children for some time. my heart breaks each and every time I see the living conditions, the wars, the poverty, and the faces of these children. until today I had not found the right way to help.

partner my desire to help African children with the desires of all three of my "boy's" hearts for another family member...mark has thought about adopting for awhile; spencer has always desired a baby sister; and yesterday when connor wrote out his first Christmas list of the season, he said, "I want a nuthr bruthr" and then clarified "or sister."

my full circle moment came at the end of a church service, where we were blessed to see the African Children's Choir at my sister's church. I cried from the moment they burst onto the stage with their huge smiles, exhuberant dancing and most precious voices.

as each child introduced themself and their dream, I jotted down names and careers. jennifer- a doctor; gideon- an engineer; ben- a pilot; rebecca- a dentist; rachel- a social worker...twenty five children, twenty five different names, twenty five individual dreams. while bringing these children home with us in a physical sense wasn't possible (it was made clear they were not up for adoption), we were offered the opportunity to bring these children home. some in the choir still needed to be fully supported financially. for they have dreams of being educated and staying in Africa to change their country.

this is where my full circle moment happened. after I received information about sponsorship, mark asked if "rita" was shown in the sponsorship binder. I looked down my list and couldn't find a child named rita. maybe he meant freda. as I looked through the binder, there she was... Fridah, a 10 year old girl from Uganda, East Africa. as soon as I told mark she needed help, she was ours.

looking into connor and spencer's faces with tears in my eyes, I said "Christmas is coming early this year. you're going to get your sister!" my advent conspiracy moment had come. as one of the volunteer workers went backstage to get Fridah for us, I was almost jumping out of my shoes with excitement! she's absolutely beautiful! and we're so excited to be able to support her!

love expanded our family today.

family...a comfortable spot

just a week ago we were in new york state visiting mark's grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousin. it was a wonderful weekend full family moments. we send out a BIG THANK YOU to our hosts. the wonderful meals, the creating time, the excursions, and the quiet moments will all be cherished memories.

{ connor and great grandma color together }

{spencer assembles a mr. potato head pumpkin}

I love the smile on her sweet face.

{aunt linda-these hands create for the youngest among us}

{we spent saturday in cooperstown at The Baseball Hall of Fame.}

{I knew there a reason I loved baseball...it uses the same tools as knitting!}

{this was one of my favorite shots of the day...capturing mark's reflection.}

this was one great family filled weekend. can you tell we love family?

the best days are family days

"these were the best two days of my life."
"really? why do you say that?"
"because I was able to be at home the whole time."

as a mom, your heart just has to warm with conversations like this one. even though he missed the halloween party, missed trick-or-treat with his best friend, missed wearing his costume, and took a trip to stat care (all because of a fever and flu symptoms), he was still able to think the past two days were the best yet.

I'm with spencer. the past two days were really great family days! our moments were spent at home together...

{reading}

{listening to music}

{taking time outs for knitting}

{finishing projects}

{carving pumpkins}

and {decorating for a new season}

planes, parties, and pools

seems like just yesterday, but, in fact, it's been a week since we celebrated connor's birthday at Walt Disey World. mark was so generous to surprise connor and me with tickets for a mini birthday vacation. he was such a good little guy.

he found creative things to do as we waited for airplanes.

he celebrated #6 with all his favorite characters.

he swam his little suit off in gramma and grandpa's pool.

and he slept the entire flight home!

it was a birthday to remember!

go visit mark's blog to read his tribute to our son.